A Brief History of the Trust
The Roman Research Trust was established as a British Registered Charity in January 1990. Its formation as a charitable Trust to support education and research in Romano-British Archaeology was originally based around the excavation at the Littlecote Roman villa directed by Bryn Walters and was successively supported, financially and in other ways, by Sir Seton Wills and Mr Peter de Savary. It was intended that the work at Littlecote would remain an important element in the Trust’s objectives but that it would have a broader remit, focussing on Romano-British archaeology in the county of Wiltshire and neighbouring counties to the west. Not long after the establishment of the Trust, the organisation of the Friends of the Roman Research Trust was founded, to act as a support group and fund-raising body for the Trust which would also organise activities connected with sites and projects of interest in Romano-British archaeology.

In 1991 the financial position of the Trust improved dramatically as a result of the unconditional bequest to it by Mrs Audrey Barrie Brown of Fresden Farm. The financial circumstances surrounding the legacy were such that the Trust could not prudently retain ownership and the property was sold by auction. The proceeds were invested to provide an income from which the Trust might make grants in support of Romano-British archaeology.The Friends of the Roman Research Trust was later re-formed as a separate and independent organisation, called the Association for Roman Archaeology and having no connection with the Roman Research Trust.

The Trust has also benefited from the gift of an archaeological archive and library by Mr. David Smith, formerly Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, and the bequest of slides and other archaeological papers by Mr. Andrew Powell.